Trouble With Difference . Racism Is An Umbrella Term That

What does it mean to you to be a black girl? If you aren’t one, what do you see when you visualize a black girl? If your imagination limits you to just an afro-centric featured, loud and slang-loving, uneducated woman, then this piece is addressed to you. The persistence of the stereotypes concerning average black girls have chained us all to the earlier listed attributes. One side effect of this dangerous connection is the wide opening for a new form of discrimination it creates. Whether it is depicted through slave owners allocating the preferable duties to lighter-skinned black woman, or in modern times where a dislike in rap music categorizes you as not really black, segregation within black communities occur. Tracing all the way back to elementary school, my education on the subject of racial segregation has been constricted to just the injustices routed by dissimilarities between racial groups. What failed to be discussed was the intragroup discrimination occurring in the black society from both outside observers and inside members. Unfortunately, our differences in the level of education, in physical appearance, and in our social factors such as our behaviour, personality or what we believe in have been pitted against each other to deny the variety of unique identities that we as black individuals carry.

It proves that a subconscious mental subjugation of blacks and other people of color continue to exist and manifest in the form of overt racism. As much as Americans insist that “the playing field [between whites and blacks] is now level”, and America as a country has “purged itself of overt racist attitudes and behaviors”, whites still enjoy a lifestyle that is more comfortable and privileged than blacks (Gallagher 2003:25). Cramblett claims that she fears living in a white and racially intolerant family will have serious effects on her daughter’s upbringing. She is also anxious of the kind of life her daughter will experience going to an all white school. These fears and her inexperience with African American background and culture are stressful enough for her to launch a lawsuit suing for pain and emotional

Racial discrimination has persisted in American societies from the oppressiveness of servitude to lawful seclusion. Digressing in severity, Americans are presently burdened with the modern manifestation of those years of racial intolerance and prejudice - a new definition of racism. While slavery and lawful segregation, such as Jim Crow Laws, are a thing of the past – by less than a century – racism is still an intrinsic societal problem that has subliminally permeated American culture. A 1947 study to determine the racial preference of “Negro” children exemplified the preference Caucasian and African American children, of all skin pigmentations, had for white baby dolls, which were inherently more beautiful and desirable (Clark and Clark p. 169-78). Variations of this study repeated as late as 2010, show little improvement of this perception that a white baby doll is more desirable and attractive than a colored baby doll (Cooper).

African American boys are doubly displaced among society. Ann Arnett Ferguson says, “they are not seen as childlike but adultified; as black males they are denied the masculine dispensation constituting white males as being “naturally naughty” and are discerned as willfully bad”(page 80). These African American boys are thought of being two things, either a criminal or an endangered species. They are not allowed to be naughty by nature according to society, but rather there naughtiness is a sign of vicious, inherent, insubordinate behavior. African americans are seen as endangered victims, which makes them criminals. Ferguson states, “It is their own maladaptive and inappropriate behavior that causes African americans to self-destruct”(page 82). There are two versions of childhood that are contradictory to each other. A real child would be seen as a “little plants” ready to grow up accordingly which is what white men were like to educators. On the other hand the African American boys were seen as children who are powerful, self centered, and have an agenda of their own. These black boys are seen as adults from such a young age, they don’t have time to be young and grow up because others make it seem like they are already fully grown. This drives them in the path to do bad things and make bad decisions.

As society has progressed towards non violence, racism has changed into a different form, with harsher psychological effects. A main cause of this psychological effect of racism is the stereotyping that society has accepted as normal (Anderson). Although it may be unintentional, it is easy to deny stereotyping exists, but difficult to prove that it does not exist. As Griffin recounts, “white society had everything sewed up. If you didn’t...say yes, you were in deep trouble. If you did, then you allowed [them] to go...on believing in the stereotype” (Griffin 167). He explains the idea society had created of a “good Negro” and a “bad Negro,” and reveals that African-Americans

Reoccurring in many situations, people, specifically students, deal with this first hand in the form of bullying in an educational setting. In his essay, “The Color of Success”, Eric Watts recalls how his fellow black friends would tell him to “stop talking like a white boy!” just because he spoke in “standard English” (Watts). Isolating those who are different, people experience this common and cruel practice among all generations. The act of singling out those who are unalike secures a spot in the characterizing of human nature because it shows the need to discriminate against someone or people and get others to join as well. Communities often treat dissimilar people in a demeaning manner because it justifies their hatred, especially if others join along.

Today, racism and racial discrimination is something you see everyday. Whether it be in a news story, an article on social media, or something that you personally witness, but what is racism? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes racism as a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. This means that one race will discriminate another because they believe that their race is better. Some people think that the only people that can be racist are white people. Their definition of racism is summed up to white people discriminating against the minority including African Americans and Latinos. Their definition of racism is not true. Racism does go both ways. Anyone is capable of saying, “Hey, my race is better than yours for this reason.” This is called reverse racism. The term reverse racism is referred to as discrimination against racial majorities inflicted by racial minorities. Reverse racism does exist and it is just as common as racism (“Racism”).

Over the last one hundred and thirty years African Americans have little by little-gained freedom for themselves as slaves and domestic servants. Now as a culture they are legally capable of obtaining jobs and positions in all areas of private and public organizations, (Hayes, A. F., & Preacher, K. J., 2010). This particular ethnic group are known to be instrumental in holding their cultures together through times of constant struggle. They have used rallies, protests, silent marches and received help from volunteer organizations to fight for rights as well as obtain justice in a racist and sexist society. This work explores the troubles African Americans face in Americas society today, through stereotypes and how gender roles as African Americans differ from each other as well as the American population.

When you referenced Ta-Nehisi Coates’ article “Letter to My Son”, I was terrified by his experience with his son when you reiterated, “Ta-Nehisi Coates took his son, not yet 5, to see a movie on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. As his son made his way off the escalator, a white woman pushed him and said, ‘Come on!’ Chaos ensued. There was a black parent’s rage and a white man’s threat to have the black parent arrested” (Bernard 1-4). This incident forced me to reflect on the dominance that white people have held over black people throughout our country’s history, and it is sickening to know that there are still people around who are willing to impose this ideology upon others. I hold even more sympathy for Black American mothers due to America’s extensive history of oppressing African-Americans. This is evident given the many years they have been subjected to prejudice and violence on top of the fact that they were coerced to leave their homeland and serve as slaves in America and then repeatedly battle just to gain equal rights with white people. For these reasons, I do not hold any disagreements with your fears and that you have every right to believe that your daughters could be a target due to their skin color given our country’s brutal history. Nonetheless, if we are going to resolve this predicament, then we need to

Have you ever in your life been called an “African-booty scratcher”? Well I have, on numerous occasions. Growing up as an African male under a single parent home can be a handful. My family and I moved to America when I was around the age of seven, adjusting to the new place I now call “home” wasn’t an effortless task. From the people I saw to the new snowy weather, it was all new to me, but I’ve always been a positive person so I accepted this changed with no hesitation. My first day of school in America, is one that I will never forget, walking down the halls and being bombarded with racial comments such as “shadow”, “animal”, and “African-booty scratcher” makes you think about where you stand in society. I didn’t understand why I was ridiculed

Black girls in schools are thus given labels and stereotypes based on their way of dressing, speaking and acting at school. The author clearly states that black girls in American schools are devalued by the

Society can be a smooth talker, it can slyly belittle someone until they fit the stereotype society has placed upon them. Some people are willing to sever past the constant bigotry and persevere towards the person they want to become, but others get stuck and fall into the trap called the pigeonhole. The line separating those who ignore society’s harsh accusations and those who listen are classified directly with how the targets react towards discrimination. Ifemelu, the main character from Americanah by Chimamanda Adichie, was a Nigerian women that lived in America who received an abundant amount of discrimination towards her African race and accent. Within a short story by Gabriel Marquez, A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, people treated

The reflection of this paper has both discrimination and racism issues. In reading the article an 11- year-old black boy is called a nigger by a 5-year-old white child. As I see it, both boys are children. The black boy feels discriminated because the white boy has no respect and calls him a nigger. The 11-year-old takes to the discrimination and racism slur calling him nigger because he has been called it before but not from a child.

It’s either black or white, right? This is a common misconception heard in relation to many contentions involving racial controversies in America, and sadly, more often than not, it is assumed to be true. The racial, or rather ethnic, and social injustices in the United States are under the unsubstantial influential power of, what is deemed by most philosophers as, the “black/white paradigm”. “Juan Pera defines this paradigm as “the conception that race in America consists, either exclusively or primarily, of only two constituent racial groups, the Black and White… In addition, the paradigm dictates that all other racial identities and groups in the United States are best understood through the Black/White binary paradigm” (Alcoff 248). Linda Alcoff, a distinguished and highly recognized woman philosopher at the City of University of New York, who specializes in epistemology, feminism, and race theory, hopes to dissuade one from simply accepting the “black/white paradigm” but rather instead deduce that all matters in relation to race and the wrongs inherent to racism cannot unpretentiously nor moralistically be placed into the two racial groupings of either black or white.

Racism is an umbrella term and indicates separation in view of race, as well as society, ethnicity, and financial force. It is the conviction that one race or culture is in a general sense better than another, paying little mind to anthropological proof despite what might be expected. This difference, the apparent mediocrity of one race over another, is generally utilized as reasonable justification for separation, whether systematized or person. Racism keeps running as a counterpoint to the general conviction and routine of libertarianism in a significant part of the created world. Racism is viewed as not knowing anything about somebody when you take a look him or her, however disdaining that person in any case, not on account of who the person is, but rather what he or she is. We all as individuals ought to think about what racism is and above all we have to comprehend what it is because we simply cannot prevent what we don’t have any knowledge about.